Just Do It: The value of exercise

The Importance of Exercise

Exercise, next to nutrition, is one of the most influential things you will do for your health. Not only does exercise positively affect your health if you do it regularly, but it also negatively affects your health if you don’t. 

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Exercise is better for you than smoking cigarettes is bad for you

Physical activity has been shown many many times over to reduce your risk of the most common diseases like heart disease, cancer, neurodegenerative diseases and metabolic disease like type 2 diabetes.

Recently this was confirmed by showing that regular physical activity will reduce your risk of developing chronic disease over ten times more than cigarette smoking will increase your risk of developing chronic disease. 

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Basically, not exercising is worse for your health than smoking cigarettes!

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‍Different types of exercise

We are all made differently and therefore we will all be better suited to certain activities than others. I am not fussed about what you do, just as long as you do it!

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Movement

I use the word movement often to describe what I would like clients of mine to do on a regular basis. The word ‘exercise’ has other connotations, so what I mean when I talk about ‘movement’ is moving your body in whatever way feels best!

Movement is more suitable than ‘exercise’ if you are:

• Older
• Recovering from illness or injury
• Obese
• Suffering from adrenal fatigue/chronic fatigue
• Undergoing cancer treatment or treatment for chronic disease

Examples of movement are:

• Yin, restorative or slow flow yoga
• Walking
• Gentle swimming
• Slow bike riding
• Tai chi and other breath-based exercises

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Endurance Exercise 

Endurance exercise is typically done at a slightly higher intensity than movement, but is still low-intensity exercise that takes place over a prolonged period of time - longer than 60 minutes can be considered endurance. 

This will differ hugely for people depending on your state of fitness and history with physical activity. Endurance exercise is what I try to get my clients focusing on movement to progress to. Because, if done properly, it has the greatest impact on your health including weight loss, metabolic function and cardiovascular health.

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Examples of endurance exercises are:

• Hiking on a trail or on undulating terrain
• Bike riding on undulating terrain
• Swimming
• Vinyasa yoga (90 min classes or higher intensity 60 min classes)
• Jogging
• Rowing
• Kayaking 

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High Intensity Exercise

High Intensity Exercise is referring to exercise done over a shorter period of time but at a higher intensity than endurance exercise. Your heart rate will be much higher and you will feel breathless. This is not an exercise I recommend for everyone. Fitter individuals, people who have a long history with exercise or those under the guidance of professionals are better suited to high-intensity exercise. If attempted under the wrong conditions (fatigued, injured, overweight or unfit) this will cause your body more harm than good. It will expose your body to high amounts of stress that you cannot recover from and therefore won’t be beneficial. 

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The benefits of exercise come from exposure to a stressor that the body has to up regulate its function in order to cope with and recover from.

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Examples of High-Intensity exercises are:

• Hiking uphill
• Biking uphill
• Sprints - running, paddling, rowing
• Fast-faced running
• HIIT classes

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Figuring out what is your high-intensity is

What defines low-intensity and high-intensity exercise will be different for every person. So first, it is important to figure out what your thresholds are.

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The easiest way to monitor your body in relation to the activity is by using a wearable

Wearables are technology that measure biomarkers such as heart rate, sleep quality and more. Examples are chest-strap heart rate monitors, sports watches from manufacturers such as Garmin, Apple or Fitbit and Oura rings. All types of wearables will differ in their accuracy. 

Using a wearable will help you monitor your heart rate closely when exercising and thereby determine if it is high-intensity (in your anaerobic zone) or low-intensity (in your aerobic zone).

To figure out your maximum aerobic heart rate before entering aerobic activity (low-intensity) the calculation is as follows:

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180 - age = maximum aerobic function - here’s a link to an article that explains this concept

*Minus another 10 if obese, unfit or unwell.

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If you don’t have a wearable to measure your heart rate you can also use two simple (less-accurate) tests:

Talk test

While doing an activity, if you can talk without getting breathless most likely you will be in an aerobic zone, therefore it is low-intensity exercise.

Nose breathing

While doing an activity, if you can breathe through your nose most likely you will be in an aerobic zone, therefore it is low-intensity exercise. This one isn’t suitable if you usually breathe through your mouth or have sinus congestion.

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How to get started

The most important thing about exercise is to keep it regular. Following an intense training plan and then giving it up and going back to no exercise is not helpful. Remember when I said not doing exercise is more harmful than smoking! So to keep it regular here is the biggest pieces of advice I give clients:

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Make it sustainable and make it fun

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Choosing exercises/activities you dislike will mean you won’t want to do it. If you can’t stand going to the gym, then ditch the membership and find something else you enjoy!

If you are going from no exercise base and choose to follow a plan with 9 training sessions a week in it, chances are this will be far too much and you’ll stop altogether. Meet yourself where you are and create a plan that works for your level of fitness and then increase slowly as you gain fitness.

Have it fit your schedule. I treat a lot of full-time working mothers (for example), just being a parent to young children in general will mean your time is not your own. So, planning on going out for a 2 hour hike in the middle of the day is not going to work. Plan out your week with your commitments and find time to schedule in exercise. Prioritise it like it’s as important as your other commitments, because trust me, it is!

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Exercise is too important to not have in your life. It doesn't matter what it looks like for you, as long as you do it. The benefits are beyond belief! 

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Resources/Sources of information:

https://peterattiamd.com/does-exercise-affect-lifespan/

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2707428?resultClick=3